Veil \Veil\ (v[=a]l), n. [OE. veile, OF. veile, F. voile, L.
   velum a sail, covering, curtain, veil, probably fr. vehere to
   bear, carry, and thus originally, that which bears the ship
   on. See Vehicle, and cf. Reveal.] [Written also vail.]
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   1. Something hung up, or spread out, to intercept the view,
      and hide an object; a cover; a curtain; esp., a screen,
      usually of gauze, crape, or similar diaphnous material, to
      hide or protect the face.
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            The veil of the temple was rent in twain. --Matt.
                                                  xxvii. 51.
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            She, as a veil down to the slender waist,
            Her unadorn['e]d golden tresses wore. --Milton.
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   2. A cover; a disguise; a mask; a pretense.
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            [I will] pluck the borrowed veil of modesty from the
            so seeming Mistress Page.             --Shak.
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   3. (Bot.)
      (a) The calyptra of mosses.
      (b) A membrane connecting the margin of the pileus of a
          mushroom with the stalk; -- called also velum.
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   4. (Eccl.) A covering for a person or thing; as, a nun's
      veil; a paten veil; an altar veil.
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   5. (Zool.) Same as Velum, 3.
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   To take the veil (Eccl.), to receive or be covered with, a
      veil, as a nun, in token of retirement from the world; to
      become a nun.
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